Further education in England: at the crossroads between a national,competitive sector and a locally collaborative system?

ABSTRACT

During the 25 years since Incorporation, when further education (FE) colleges were taken out of local government control, FE in England has been shaped by processes of marketisation to become a competitive national sector that has increasingly diverged from the more ‘collaborative system logic’ of the other three countries of the UK. However, following recent government reforms, FE in England appears to have reached a crossroads with the opportunity to participate in a more collaborative skills-based landscape at the local and sub-regional levels. This article brings together evidence from historical and international comparative system analysis, a series of UK-wide seminars and in-depth research on the Area-Based Review of FE colleges to assess the strategic direction of FE in England at this critical juncture. We argue that English FE providers can take advantage of these trends to make a transition from a reactive, competitive national sector towards a more collaborative, regional and sub-regional system focused on inclusive economic and skills development. The article concludes that the potential for cross-UK policy learning depends on whether FE in England gradually transitions towards a more collaborative future that could bring it closer to FE and skills systems in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.     

Governing the governors: A case study of college governance in English further education

This paper addresses the nature of governors in the governance of further education colleges in an English context. It explores the complex relationship between governors (people/agency), government (policy/structure) and governance (practice), in a college environment. While recent research has focused on the governance of schooling and higher education there has been little attention paid to the role of governors in the lifelong learning sector. The objective of the paper is to contribute to the debate about the purpose of college governance at a time when the Learning and Skills Council commissioning era ends and new government bodies responsible for further education and training, including local authorities, arrive. The paper analyses the nature of FE governance through the perspectives and experiences of governors, as colleges respond to calls from government for greater improvement and accountability in the sector. What constitutes creative governance is complex and controversial in the wider framework of regulation and public policy reform. As with other tricky concepts such as leadership, professionalism and learning, college governance is best defined in the contexts, cultures and situations in which it is located. College governance does not operate in a vacuum. It involves governors, chairs, principals, professionals, senior managers, clerks, community, business and wider agencies, including external audit and inspection regimes. Governance also acts as a prism through which national education and training reforms are mediated, at local level. While governing bodies are traditionally associated with the business of FE—steering, setting the tone and style, dealing with finance, funding, audit and procedural matters—they are increasingly being challenged to be more creative and responsive to the wider society. Drawing on a recent case study of six colleges, involving governors and key policy stakeholders, this paper explores FE governance in a fast changing policy environment.     

Observation of teaching and learning: teacher development or micropolitics and neo-Fordism

Ethnographic research in a further education college (College X) between 2000 and 2005 was designed to uncover the impact of the Common Inspection Framework (the inspection framework for all post-16 non-higher education and training) on the Observation of Teaching and Learning (OTL) process within the college. Such research indicated that the assumption of narrow pedagogies by observers of teaching, in line with the expectations of the college observation policy, had minimised the effectiveness of the process because it caused OTL to become neo-Fordist and micropolitical in nature rather than a means for lecturer development. This was the product of top-down policy and procedure within College X, but also an over-controlling local Learning and Skills Council (LSC) and Ofsted inspection framework which limited the extent to which senior managers were able to accommodate different learning contexts within the OTL process. The clear implication of research in College X was that improvements in teaching and learning require inspection and observation processes to focus on subject-specific pedagogy and professional values rather than bureaucratic procedures and narrow pedagogies.     

Quality and Its Assurance in Further Education

Inspection is one of several approaches adopted in the further education (FE) sector for enhancing quality and raising standards. Inspections are carried out by full‐time inspectors augmented by a substantial body of part‐time appointments from the colleges, industry and commerce. All colleges have a quadrennial inspection which draws on evidence collected during the previous four years, supplemented and updated by the visit of an inspection team. Colleges are actively involved in the planning of their inspection and nominate a senior member of staff as a full member of the inspection team. Inspectors assess the strengths and weaknesses of each aspect of provision, using a five‐point grading scale. Inspection grades represent the collective judgements of all those involved and initial assessments of inspectors are moderated throughout the inspection process. A high degree of consistency has been observed between the gradings obtained by full‐ and part‐time inspectors. Inspections are regularly reviewed and evaluated so that changes can be made to the arrangements as necessary. Inspections to date have provided a valuable picture of the issues to be addressed by the FE sector and the main challenges facing the new FE inspectorate     

The ‘FENTO Fandango’: national standards,compulsory teaching qualifications and the growing regulation of FE college teachers

In the last ten years further education has moved from a sector characterised as being in a state of ‘benign neglected’ by central government to one which has grown in importance to policy makers and in turn has become more and more regulated. Below I describe and critically analyse these changes, focusing on the initial training and professional development of further education teachers. The analysis sets the context and traces the development of national standards for FE teachers and the formation of the Further Education National Training Organisation (FENTO), the introduction of compulsory teacher qualifications and other recent initiatives launched by the DfES, such as the Standards Unit which wishes to radically change the nature of teacher education for the post-compulsory sector. The article welcomes many of the recent developments, yet calls for more strategic planning and warns of the danger of over-regulating a sector that is characterised by its diversity of learners and learning contexts.     

Surveillance,performativity and normalised practice: the use and impact of graded lesson observations in Further Education colleges

In little over a decade, the observation of teaching and learning (OTL) has become the cornerstone of Further Education (FE) colleges’ quality systems for assuring and improving the professional skills and knowledge base of tutors. Yet OTL remains an under-researched area of inquiry with little known about the impact of its use on the professional identity, learning and development of FE tutors. This paper examines the specific practice of graded OTL and in so doing discusses findings from a mixed-methods study conducted in 10 colleges situated across the West Midlands region of England. Data from a questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews were analysed within a theoretical framework that drew largely on aspects of Foucauldian theory as well as the twin phenomena of new managerialism and performativity. This analysis revealed how OTL has become normalised as a performative tool of managerialist systems designed to assure and improve standards, performance and accountability in teaching and learning. It is argued that FE has now outgrown graded OTL and it is time for a moratorium on its use. Colleges and tutors need to be given greater professional autonomy with regard to OTL and be allowed to develop their own systems that place professional learning and development at the forefront, rather than the requirements of performance management systems.     

Access Courses and Students from Minority Ethnic Backgrounds

Abstract

This article describes a study of the uptake of places on ‘access’ to higher education courses in Scottish further education (FE) colleges by students from minority ethnic backgrounds. Colleges surveyed recruited access students from minority ethnic backgrounds in close approximation to the proportions attracted to FE in general, despite the commitment to prioritise under‐represented groups, including students from minority ethnic communities. The study found a general acceptance of the principle of positive action by colleges, but little evidence of strategies likely to prove effective. It is suggested that the government's agenda for widening participation in education can only be accomplished when the FE sector recognises ethnicity as an important issue.     

The professional identities of teacher educators in three further education colleges: an entanglement of discourse and practice

Initial teacher education programmes have been identified as crucial to meeting the twin policy aims of professionalising the further education (FE) workforce and achieving improved learner outcomes, yet college-based teacher educators are underrepresented in published research and commentary. Drawing on a case study of teacher educators employed by three FE colleges in England, this paper argues that the contested and politicised nature of the FE sector presents a unique set of circumstances that distinguishes this population from other members of their professional group and severely restricts the identities available to them. Through a thematic discursive analysis of documentation, observation and interview data, it is argued that FE positions teacher educator identity through political governance, through the business practices of colleges and through the sector’s historical relationships with vocational and higher education. Within this distinctive context, teacher educators experience competing identities of ‘qualified and credible’, ‘teacher’, ‘different from others’, ‘part of FE’ and ‘employee’ that are entangled with the dominant discourses of English further education. After discussing the implications of these findings for a professional profile of teacher educators, the paper concludes that teacher educators are better understood as a heterogeneous occupational group in order to avoid obscuring professional concerns linked to policy landscapes.     

延续与变迁:21世纪初的香港高等教育发展与改革

本文在概述香港高等教育发展历程的基础上,分析了世纪之初香港高等教育所面临的主要问题、重要改革举措和政策变革。香港高等教育在21世纪初的主要发展和改革表现在：素质评鉴机制的制度化,大学管治体制和教职员薪酬制度的改革,大学角色的再定位,社区学院和私立大学的发展,以及大学教育的国际化等方面。这些改革对香港高校与政府的关系、高校的角色定位等都带来重要影响。香港高等教育的国际化发展,将使香港高校在中国内地高等教育体系中扮演越来越重要的角色,推动香港与中国内地高等教育的互动和发展。为此,香港与内地之间需要加强在高等教育政策上的协调与合作。     

对普通高校公共体育课教学改革思考

根据中共中央、教育部关于深化教育改革全面推进素质教育以及全国高等学校体育课程改革等文件的指导思想和要求,对学校公共体育的现状进行了分析,依照高校体育改革发展趋势和学校实际,提出了高校公共体育课教学改革的对策。     

HMI and OFSTED : Evolution or Revolution in School Inspection

HMI and Ofsted modes of school inspection are described and compared. The links between these modes are stressed. The information gathering capacity of Ofsted enables it to formulate specific and authoritative advice on good curriculum and pedagogic practice and thus to influence the direction of education policy and steer the system generally.     

Further education outside the jurisdiction of local education authorities in post-war England

This article revisits the three decades following the end of World War Two – a time when, following the 1944 Education Act, local education authorities (LEAs) were the key agencies responsible for running the education system across England. For the first time, there was a statutory requirement for LEAs to secure adequate facilities for further education (FE), and the post-war era is generally remembered as a period when they dominated FE. Yet this is not the full story of FE in post-war England: it is often forgotten that a significant amount of FE existed outside the municipal framework. This article returns to the post-war decades and begins to uncover the largely forgotten history of FE outside local authority control at that time. It highlights how voluntary and private organisations offered various forms of post-compulsory education outside the municipal framework, and how they contributed to the eclectic and diverse nature of FE across England. This, I argue, not only reflected the expedience, compromise and inertia that characterised FE in post-war England but was rooted in a capture of educational policy more generally by a privileged elite intent on maintaining a social order characterised by social, economic and cultural divisions.     

流变与走向:美国教师教育课程的检视

理性审视美国教师教育课程的历史和现状可以发现,虽然美国教师教育课程已经走在了世界的前列,但是,仍然存在着实践课程效能不高、课程板块缺乏融合以及多元文化课程不被重视等问题。针对这些境况,美国教师教育正从加强大中小学合作、促进课程知识融合和开设多元文化课程等方面进行改革。     

The recruitment of VET teachers and the failure of policy in England’s further education sector

England’s further education (FE) sector has been characterised by instability and policy churn for at least three decades during which time reform of vocational education and training (VET) has been piled on top of reform, with few resulting in lasting change. In the context of another ambitious new reform of VET in England, this article reports on a study that examined the chronic difficulties in recruiting teachers of vocational science, engineering and technology (SET) to FE colleges. We argue that these difficulties in recruiting SET teachers reveal persistent weaknesses in policy planning for the English VET sector and help to explain the serial failure of VET policy in England.     

To grade or not to grade: balancing formative and summative assessment in post-16 teacher trainee observations

The issue of whether trainee teachers in the post-16 sector should have their classroom practice graded has been debated for a number of years. The case for training courses retaining an emphasis on written and verbal ‘developmental’ feedback at the expense of ‘judgements’ appears to be lost. This article is set within the context of an ever-growing culture of performativity in English further education colleges, where grading is regarded as an essential requirement to ensure high quality teaching. Tensions are explored between stakeholders who call for graded observations of trainees’ classroom performance (e.g. Ofsted and FEC quality assurance managers), and classroom-based trainers and researchers who argue that grading is too judgemental and compromises the formative and developmental progress of trainees. The rationale for trainee teachers to have their classroom practice graded is contrasted with evidence that highlights the negative results of grading. This article reports findings from the evaluation of an innovative, alternative strategy that addresses Ofsted’s central requirement for trainees to know ‘where they are’ in their development by offering a middle way between grading and not grading trainees’ classroom performance.     

Values in Post-compulsory Education--the divide between public statements,private discourse and operational practices

This article is a set of reflections based on research into the secondary school/further education college interface over the past five years. The research highlighted a number of issues relating to values and management in post-compulsory education. These issues will be explored in the article. The setting up of the quasi-market in post-compulsory education has led to a tension between liberal democratic and economic instrumentalist values. For example, the officially stated policies may emphasise collaboration between school and colleges yet at the operational level school leaders accuse colleges of 'poaching' pupils and college leaders accuse schools of 'hanging on' to pupils. There exists a discrepancy between the market-led managerialism which leads to young people being treated as commodities and the alternative market view of young people as potential or actual clients with educational or training needs to be met. There also exist alternative discourses on the nature of young people themselves which reflect value positions. The same young people perceived themselves as adults making rational decisions about their own futures. It is important that leaders and managers in post-compulsory education consider these differing value positions.     

新评估方案对高职课程建设的启示

课程建设与改革是提高教学质量的核心,也是教学改革的重点和难点,为此新评估方案更加突出了课程建设在整个评估方案中的地位,从四个方面具体阐述了考察内容。高职学院应从人才需求调研入手,构建工学结合的专业课程体系,开发基于工作过程系统化的课程内容,贯彻学做合一的教育理念,完善实践教学条件、培养“双师型”教学团队,确保课程建设的顺利实施。     

Social class and participation in further education: evidence from the Youth Cohort Study of England and Wales

This paper examines the class distribution of young people, aged 16–17 years, in colleges of further education (FE) using data from the Youth Cohort Study. It finds that, contrary to popular perceptions of FE colleges as being for ‘other people’s children’, middle‐class students as well as working‐class students are well represented. However, this does not imply that FE colleges are institutions of choice; middle‐class representation is often related to lower achievement and, for low‐achieving working‐class students, leaving education entirely is more likely than entry to FE. These findings are explored using notions of habitus and field. Their relationship with studies of the education of middle‐class children is also discussed, and the paper suggests that research on class in FE colleges must come to terms with middle‐class presence.     

Exploring teachers’ and students’ conceptions of learning in two further education colleges

The Learning to Learn in Further Education Research Project (L2L) is coordinated by the Campaign for Learning and run by researchers at Newcastle and Glasgow Universities. The project involves teachers at two further education (FE) colleges, Lewisham and Northumberland, using practitioner enquiry methodologies to explore and share what works in learning and teaching in their context.

This article uses data collected as part of the larger project to explore how the combination of societal, political and economic forces that have shaped provision in this sector impact on students’ and teachers’ views of learning when compared with the compulsory sector. The authors sought to establish whether factors such as an ethos of performativity and instrumentalisation of the curriculum were indeed at play in shaping understandings of teaching and learning, and what it means to learn in an FE context.

Telephone interviews with 16 teachers provided evidence that such pressures were impacting on teaching despite the ambitions of the teachers that their practice be responsive to student need rather than curricular imperatives. Involvement with the university and the L2L project was seen by many as a way of countering perceived constraints on their freedom to exercise professional judgement. Face-to-face mediated interviews with 64 learners drawn from a number of qualification routes revealed a simplistic model for learning based around listening and the practising of skills. The authors discuss the extent to which students appear to understand this as building the necessary foundations for later, more sophisticated learning rather than as requirements of their courses per se.     

普通高校体育课程教学新模式的构建

高校体育课程教学模式关系到体育课程改革的成败，影响体育教学的目标实现。针对我国现阶段体育教学改革的现状和高校后勤社会化改革的实际情况，提出“选项课＋选修课＋高水平单项俱乐部＋社区体育俱乐部”的体育教学模式，并赋予新的内涵和操作思路，旨在为各类高校进行体育教学改革提供借鉴和参考。